Joanna Newsom w/Kevin Barker @ The Phoenix

My love for the music of Joanna Newsom has been well documented on this here blog, and her latest 3-disc extravaganza Have One On Me has been no exception. When I started listening to the record, there was a part of me that was a little bit perturbed at the fact that she has somewhat normalized her voice a little bit, feeling as if she was sort of giving in to all of the haters who didn't like the high pitched squeak that accompanied her last two albums. The words "acquired taste" followed defenders of her like the plague, but I have to say that personally, I never needed that period of adjustment. From the first time I heard her I remember thinking that this girl has something that I've never heard before, both in terms of musical expression and of course, in her vocals as well. The Milk Eyed Mender was an album that I enjoyed thoroughly, and Ys, well, that's just simply one of my favourite albums ever. The current album however, while supposedly more accessible, actually did take a few extra listens for me to appreciate, as the uncanny vocal similarities to Kate Bush just had me going back and listening to her again, which forced me to make comparisons, which led to thoughts like, "there may be many impersonators, but there's only one Kate Bush."

While I still maintain the accuracy of that statement, Joanna Newsom's album has grown on me, to the point where I enjoy it almost as much as her other two, and the internal build up in enthusiasm as the day of her show at The Phoenix was approaching had me feeling some definite high levels of anticipation. Yes, even with all of the shows that I see, I can still get pretty excited about them from time to time, and this was certainly one of those times.

This show, of course, was right smack dab in the middle of an especially rainy Canadian Music Week, which meant that I had already done enough running around and getting wet, so I tried to time it so that I would show up right at door time and I could just stroll in, while still being early enough to get up nice and close to the front. Well, my timing was off a bit, and I did end up standing in the windy cold rain for pretty close to a half hour, which didn't make me particularly giddy. Still, I was in and I was decently close to the front, so overall things weren't too bad.

The opening act was Kevin Barker, the guitarist for a pretty decent alt-country band called Vetiver, and a man who has worked with Devendra Banhart, Vashti Bunyan and Antony and the Johnsons. His set was quite subdued yet enjoyable, and he showed great respect for the fact that people were here to see Newsom by keeping it relatively brief, even quipping that like us, he can't wait till he gets off the stage as well. He played four or five mildly jammy numbers that would run the gamut of song structure with pop sensibilities and lead into slightly longer folk tinged expressive pieces, that would straddle that fine line between progressive construction and free form expression. It was all rather enjoyable, but after waiting in the rain for half an hour, I was really getting antsy waiting for Newsom to take the stage.

Photos: Kevin Barker @ The Phoenix (March 13th, 2010) on flickr
Myspace: Kevin Barker

When she finally did (after 20 more minutes of waiting), she looked simply stunning as she waved at the audience and then sat down at the piano to perform a perfect rendition of album opener Easy, with her voice impressively flawless. Accompanying her on stage were five others, sitting up front to stages left and right, playing all of the elaborate pieces on guitar, violins, trumpet, drums, flute and banjo. Joanna was in the unfortunate position of having to keep her set brief, since The Phoenix hosts a dance party on Saturday nights, which meant that when it came to setlists, she had to choose wisely, probably not an easy thing to do when you're promoting an album that runs over two hours in length. Still, I'd have to say that she did quite well, including my favourite songs from the new album (Soft As Chalk and the title track), as well as some older favourites (Inflammatory Writ, The Book of Right-On from Milk Eyed Mender, and Emily from Ys.) Another surprise was how down-to-earth and normal she seemed, which for me, seemed to run contrary to the distinguished nature of her music. There was a moment during The Book of Right-On where she forgot the lyrics, and the look on her face was priceless as she asked if anybody knew the words. There was another funny moment when she needed to tune her harp, which apparently isn't as straight forward as tuning a guitar, when she allowed her drummer Neil Morgan to banter with the audience to bide some time, where he told lame (yet endearing) jokes and fielded several questions about his own career, which made for an entertaining distraction. Still, the highlights were, of course, the music, and I swear that there was even a moment during In California where I felt myself feeling a little verklempt, which really sums up the effect that her music has on those who get it. And when you're used to hearing peers (and anonymous blog commenters) talk about how much they hate her, there's something very comforting about being in a room of 1000+ people, standing so quietly that you could literally hear a pin drop, taking in the beautiful expressions that can only come from the pairing of a mythical harp and Newsom's magical voice.

This show was already reviewed by many, including The National Post, The Globe and Mail, Chromewaves, Chart Magazine, Exclaim and there's no doubt that For The Records will have his review up shortly also.

There's also plenty of great video footage from the show up on ANewCanadian's youtube channel.

Photos: Joanna Newsom @ The Phoenix (March 13th, 2010) on flickr
Myspace: Joanna Newsom